Arts & Entertainment

Best Female Vocalist Minneapolis 2012 - Brute Heart

As Poliça fans filed into First Avenue for the band's sold-out Valentine's Day record-release show, they were no doubt expecting to be treated to the ethereally powerful voice of singer Channy Leaneagh — and by the end of the night, they were. But perhaps less expected was how blown away audience members would be by opening band Brute Heart. The experimental Minneapolis trio, composed of vocalists Jackie Beckey, Crystal Brinkman, and Crystal Myslajek, filled the cavernous club with evocative sound, using their voices as instruments layered over and punctuating the viola, bass, and percussion work with equal but never greater importance, never relying on the voice to carry the melody but instead using it to carefully construct an otherworldly whole. The result is vocals that haunt ever so slightly, like the musical bug in your ear rather than the chorus fixed in your brain for weeks.